Matt Beaudreau My Story

Bridging the gap between what students are learning today, and what they will need to know to succeed in tomorrow’s ever-evolving economy.

What Have a Quarter of a Million People Learned from Matt Beaudreau?

Why have corporations such as American Eagle, Atlantic Healthcare, Cedar Sinai Hospital, Caterpillar, Lockheed Martin, Wells Fargo, Purina, Wendy’s, and Bank of America—and universities such as Stanford and University of Colorado at Boulder—hired Matt to speak to audiences of 1,500 – 15,000?

Matt Beaudreau is one of the nation’s most in-demand speakers on the topic of “Bridging the Generational Divide” in the 21st-century Workplace. Managers across all industries are saying—as loud as they can—that young Americans graduating from college are not equipped with the skills they need to succeed to lead in the modern-day workplace.

Matt shares with his audiences exactly the shifts that need to happen—in education, in hiring and recruitment practices, in workplace management styles and structures, and in intergenerational communication—to make sure the the greatest talent emerging from new generations is being put to the greatest use. Hearing managers and recruiters complain again and again about how traditional schooling is failing miserably at training kids for the needs of the modern economy, inspired Matt to search for and create a better alternative: one that would actually serve young adults, and the people who will be hiring them.

Already a successful educational consultant (who had trained over 10,000 educators across the nation,) everything changed when Matt visited Austin, Texas in 2015. He was there to deliver a TEDx talk on the topic of alternative educational programs in America. While there, he visited the first campus within the Acton Academy network of homeschooling programs.

What he saw at Acton changed his life. Spending 2-hours in the middle-school studio, the adult in the room did not say a single word the entire time. He saw 36 middle-school students run their workspace more efficiently than many adults at work do. The students in that room were adults, whereas the students in most middle schools are treated like kids…and act that way.

Self-awareness and self-confidence are always the curriculum. The ability to create the person you want to be all starts with those two things, and most people never find them.

Matt’s oldest child at that time was 4, just about to enter school. Matt decided there was no way he would ever allow his child to enter any educational system other than an Acton Academy. The problem was, there was no Acton Academy where he lived, in Roseville, CA, outside of Sacramento. Coming home to his wife Heather from Texas that night, he said, “We’re either opening up our own Acton campus in Roseville, or we’re moving to Austin.”

“We’re opening up an Acton campus here,” Heather said, without missing a beat.

A year and a half later, Acton Academy Placer opened its doors, with 55 initial students, from ages 5-14. The families were so happy with their experience, so quickly, they started telling their friends, and enrollment soon swelled to 150.

Acton Academy Placer is now the fastest-growing Acton campus within the 100-campus network in 20 countries. Ground has already been broken on a new campus that will accommodate a full high school’s worth of students.

Though a quarter of a million corporate employees have benefitted from his talks at major multinational corporations across the US, Canada, and Mexico (and in France and Japan)…it’s the learners Matt reaches every day, in his homeschool studio, that inspire Matt to keep innovating. These are the learners who will soon be employed at the corporations where he speaks…and he is committed to making sure they are well-equipped to become the future leaders of those organizations, and beyond.

His mission is to bridge the gap between what students are learning today, and what they will need to know to succeed in tomorrow’s ever-evolving economy.

“If I accept you as you are, I only make you worse; however if I treat you as though you are what you are capable of becoming, I help you become that.”

Bridging Generations Through Research and Speaking

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Happy Clients Tell Great Stories

Matt has presented at two of our client conferences in the past two months, both with more than 1,500 people in attendance representing a variety of generations. He stands out to me as a speaker we will all remember for some time, not only because of his outstanding content, but because of his presentation skills and ability to draw the audience in to his message using humor.

Matt's presentation was fast-paced and humorous but the content was intensely relevant and his use of humor didn’t dilute the message. Everyone who sat through the sessions walked away with something they could use in their daily lives to understand those around them just a little better. He is a unique speaker with a special ability to connect with his audience. I would highly recommend him as a presenter for any group who wants to understand the quirks, nuances, and motivators for the generations with whom we all work.